Winter Warblers
One of the reasons I love winter is that is signals the return of some of my favorite songbirds. Especially two species, the Pine and Prairie warblers.
Most warblers prefer the tropics in the winter, but many hang around the Mid-South, apparently finding our moderate winters and food supplies acceptable.
We have two birds, one of each species, that have been visiting now for three winters. I feel fairly certain it’s the same two birds I see year after year, because I only see two, and it’s common for birds to visit the exact same spots, year after year, during their migrations.
Over the years I’ve struggled with my decision to keep feeders, realizing the birds don’t really need the feeders and also realizing that feeders can actually cause some harm in certain situations. Feeders must be kept clean to prevent disease, but even clean feeders can cause birds to unnaturally congregate. Some friends at Audubon tell me not too worry about it, but my worries are no so easily dismissed.
I suppose it also creates another hazard for the birds, in that I commonly find a collections of feathers tossed haphazardly across the ground. Birds that dally too long often become food for Coopers and Red-tailed hawks. I suspect it’s the juncos and Morning doves that are most susceptible, since they feed on the ground and in groups.
But in the end, the joy of seeing my avian friends perch outside my kitchen window or near the patio is always too great, and I replenish the feeders and ignore my guilt.
They like the seed, and I love seeing them.
Abbey threw beer cans out the window and threw rocks at rabbits. I figure I can feed the damn birds.
I never really put much thought into birds until I started feeding them this year. The summer was full of them, all sorts and it would only take a day or two for them to eat all the seed in the feeder. Now, it takes a good week or two for them to level it down. Not much around this time of year.